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Pathogen HK
'Pathogen HK '''is a stronger, faster-acting variant of the endemic disease Kuru, and is the biological agent responsible for the zombie outbreak in Banoi Island. Pathogen HK received its name after members of the Consortium discovered strains of Stage 2 HIV and Stage 2 Kuru within the virus. Infection According to emails sent between Consortium members Wong, Androv and Goss, Pathogen HK is transmitted through blood, and thus physical injuries. Once inside a host's system, it will incubate for a period of hours or days. Meanwhile, the virus' host will experience indescribable pain, while his or her mental abilities gradually diminish, up to a point where the host will be completely unable to speak properly. Once dead, only the host's primary mental capacities will remain, turning the host into a zombie-like being, driven only by its instinct to feed upon uninfected beings. Whether such a reaction is caused by fear or rage is largely unknown. It appears that as a human goes through the Zombification process, they will be extremely fast and aggressive, but as the infected human goes through the process, they will Slow down and gain more health. It appears that stronger men, when infected, will become more stronger and brutish zombies than walkers. It also appears that a few special strains of the virus have emerged, leaving infected individuals Covered in explosive gas bubbles, Extremely taller and stronger than other infected, or Faster and deadlier than other infected. Also, being in or submerged in water during the time of zombification will result in other types of Zombies beside the Walker, being in water will result in The drowner and being submerged in water will result in The Floater. Chemical radiation also appears to change infected individuals, being in around greenhouse gasses and other types of chemicals create The Grenadier and touching chemicals found in The Japanese Tunnels appear to create The strongest zombie of them all, however, this may be untrue and it could be another strain of the virus, as several wrestlers appear all over the place in Henderson and the docks. It is also unknown if the Screamer is made from a chemical reaction or a different strain of the virus, saying the Screamers were tested on before infection, it is possible that they were chemically tested on too. Apparently, it is possible for animals to become infected as well, as heard in one of Roger Howard's audio recordings in which he and his driver are attacked by an infected orangutan after accidentally hitting it with their car and crashing it. Weaponization Pathogen HK is currently being studied by the Consortium in an attempt to weaponize the virus and sell it to be used in biological warfare. According to the Consortium, such a powerful biological weapon, if controlled and stabilized, could be worth billions. HKEA In [[Escape Dead Island|''Escape Dead Island]], numerous files provide information about GeoPharm's research on something called HKEA. Although the name HKEA bears some similarities to Pathogen HK described above, Escape Dead Island gives a different account of its nature and its creation. It is unclear at this time whether the original account of Pathogen HK remains canon. HKEA is a virus originally developed to combat kuru, and is capable of being programmed to express proteins as desired. Initially, it is tested on anemones which are then infected with kuru; these results are promising, but insufficient. The research team requests human subjects. Since infecting humans with kuru would be unethical, the team tests Kuru against ADAR1, an RNA-editing enzyme which the team believes will cause a safe level of mutation. Some tests subjects are exposed, either accidentally or intentionally, to HKEA programmed to express the kuru protein itself. Either due to expression of the kuru protein, or modification by ADAR1, or both, HKEA develops anomalous properties - generating blood-borne stem cells that congregate along the spinal column. This development is considered promising, and the team drops research on HKEA as a potential cure for kuru to focus on these new properties. By the time research on HKEA is discontinued, it has developed into the pathogen that will wipe out the Banoi Archipelago. In this form, it takes control over the nervous system and musculature, replicating faster than the ongoing decay of the body can kill it. It maintains this control as long as possible, and in later stages introduces mutations allowing it to spread the infection more efficiently. Kuru in Reality While Dead Island is notable for the extent to which it has tried to anchor its "zombie explanation" to a real-world location and its accompanying real-world mind-altering deadly disease, some suspension of disbelief is required. As is repeated (accurately) several times in the story, Kuru is a prion disease. However, it is not a virus. It is a mis-folded protein that catalyzes the identical mis-folding of other, similar proteins, so that they clump together in a huge stack, disrupting cell functions. The most notable examples of the disease affect neurons of the central nervous system, thus affecting behavior. Prions contain no genetic material, and cannot recombine with viruses. They are also incapable of mutating, as they "reproduce" not by copying a genetic sequence but by causing similar proteins to misconfigure themselves, a process which then repeats. Kuru is a form of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD). You cannot get CJD from being bitten; you must ingest tissue from the brain or spinal cord of an infected victim, as in "mad cow" disease. However, the disease can appear spontaneously in a person when one of his brain proteins just happens to mis-fold (the sporadic form). Some people are also born with a defective form of the protein that tends to spontaneously misfold (the familial form). It can also be contracted through the use of contaminated medical equipment (the iatrogenic form), especially tools used in brain surgery, as the CJD protein is not destroyed by ordinary antiseptic procedures, such as the use of an autoclave. Category:Article stubs Category:Articles without images